Long Bunks Poems

The Moon Also Rises
The Midwatch

Harry Mayer


The X.O.’s in the shower
and the Captain’s in his bed.
The Chiefs’ are playin’ poker
as we’re steamin’ to the Med.

“I’ll take that bet and raise you”
is what the Bo’sun says
from the...

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‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the bay
Not a soldier was stirring in the hall or the way.
The clothes were all hung in the lockers with care
In hopes that the I. G. soon...

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The Appalachian Trail is quite a long path.
Not many can go the whole way.
For those not content to do the math
It’s five million strides, so they say.

Most hikers elect to go part of the way.
A...

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Mary Rose, the mighty sailing sea vessel glided majestically across the waves 
She had robustly and bravely sailed the briny waves for many a night and day
With the ocean's heaving gusting squalls blowing off proud...

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There’s many a tale that spreads across the night
when the sun o’er the plains yields to campfire light. 
Tales about cowboys, who once roamed the plains, 
scratching a living using their rope and reins

A few...

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Dedicated to the Officers and crew of
USS Columbia (SSN 771)

Goodbye Sun

We are welcomed by men in 
immaculate whites
Through a hatch
we descend a steep ladder
into "The Last Slider"

From a narrow corridor we enter
into the brain and...

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1956 Newport to Bermuda Race

In June, 89 sailboats at midday
Left Newport and Narragansett Bay.

We're on the way in a 635 mile race
To Bermuda - a beautiful place.

Light winds on the first day out
Even sighted a...

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We flew through the air on a refurbished plane,
the shakes and the rattles sure gave us some pain.
But we were the ones who fortune had named
to spend years Far East with our dad’s army game.

The...

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INTO THE LIGHT: SAFE HAVEN, 1944
                             ...

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Sergeant Major O'Malley, Seventh Cavalry, had served nigh on three decades.
He rose through the ranks havin' served in squads, companies and brigades.
Second lieutenants were nuisances and he treated them as if they didn't exist!
He took...

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Note:  Every year the government sets aside a Day of Remembrance for the 
Holocaust.  This year it is the first week of May.  Please share this with everyone so 
that none of...

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Chapter Seven: Spaced 
Chapter Seven: Spaced 
 
Cheph111 outward bound 
liftoff ten minus none 
 
The trip from the planet's surface was almost instantaneous the crew were 
webbed in bunks and floating in gspaces the...

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At dawn the bugle's piercin' call roused troopers for another wretched day,
Of curryin' horses, shovelin' manure, drillin', guard duty and gatherin' hay!
Another day of bellerin' sergeants and pompous officers that they must obey!
This and more...

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No talk, no walk,
No laws, no clause,
That's her way of dreaming.
Just the silence between the journey,
The peace connecting two broken pieces of heart,
Was the making of the bro sis art.
Their relationship was an art,
Not just...

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Chinese trollers
Cranes and pulleys motor oil saliva
Fishhook cockroach antennas dipped to the oceans
Thousands of sailing creepy crawlers
Bandits with razors

Cross the boundless seas
Devours crumbs of every kind of confiscated fish
Left to crawl or swim on the...

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visualizing moments from my past
i had friends that were too fast
and now they're pushing up grass

some pulled triggers to prove they were'nt punks
got sent to prison to spend their lives on jail bunks
in this world...

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The cowpokes is settled 'round the pot bellied stove all snug and warm,
A-bracin' fer snow and gales frum the advancin' winter storm.
Some enjoy Bull Durham roll-yer-owns, others terbaccy chaws.
They've shed their reekin' boots - the...

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2020 taught us many things;
And freedom wasn’t one of them
Be it physical or mental
Everyone fought their captors..
Some succumbed, some overcame,
The hurdles meant to terminate them
Few gained profits, many bore losses
For some, it was the beginning
Others...

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Grandfather, Father, Son- three legends are:
they served their City service very well.
From 30s through the 80s, each a star;
as Firemen- many dangers each befell.

Three generations gladly took their stands;
not volunteers, but full-time, active shifts.
Grandfather in...

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"Greater love has no man than this, 
that a man lay down his life for his friends."*

The four men were more than friends,
they were brothers. 
Brothers of different beliefs, 
but of the same Father.

Each took...

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They darken to appear
thus Scatter to dissipate
in present company it might
be seen as entertainment
complicated by a lack of
 understanding
dark features with
brillant and uninspiring hues
that blend to
create a spectrum of
light 
as the onlookers awe
the conditions change
giving...

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It’s the elephant,
the huge shadow, 
the gray bulk of gray in the room,
and it’s such a small threadbare room,
four bunks deep
barely five feet wide.

Wood lice are eating a cheap village fiddle,
it was discarded in the...

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There’s a billy on the open fire
Piles of beech wood by the door
Smokey stains adorn the iron roof
Wax drips on bench and floor.

Old cobwebs drape the windows
Dog-eared cards upon a shelf
The half a dozen Readers...

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__________________   RAG BAGGER


      What is a blowboat
      which way does the warm wind blow
      Im lashed to the...

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Son, you haven't really experienced life,
(And it will surely make you pine for a wife!),
Until you are thrust into noisy open-bay coops,
With fifty other snorting and snoring troops!

The sergeants demand that things be just right.
Bunks...

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